The University of Louisiana-Monroe was the Homecoming opponent for North Texas at Apogee Stadium. They were coming into the game after a big win at Troy and looking for a victory. Afterall, they have beaten North Texas five of the last six times the teams have met. ULM won the toss, elected to receive and took the opening kick-off back 102 yards in 12 seconds to take a 7-0 lead.

North Texas took their kick-off out to their 38 yard line but were forced to punt after going three and out.

On ULM’s first series of plays, on third down, Rolando Johnson rose up to stop the Warhawks short of the first down to force a punt.

North Texas got the ball at the 31 yard line. Ivan Delgado got North Texas their first, first down of the game when he took the ball to the 42 yard line. However, ULM held forcing the punt. A fair catch was called for but not noticed by Mike Marshall who tackled the receiver. The result of the penalty gave ULM the ball at the 30 yard line.  However, on third down Hilbert Jackson and company forced the Warhawks to punt the ball back to North Texas

The North Texas offensive line with Mason Y’Barbo, Antonio Johnson, Aaron Fortenberry, Cyril Lemon, Matt Tomlinson and Andrew Power started to open holes for Dunbar. He carried the ball 14 yards down the ULM 45 yard line. North Texas was able to move the ball to the 40 yard where Derek Thompson saw the blitz coming and he put the ball on the money to Breland Chancellor for a touchdown. The extra point from Zack Olen tied the game at 7-7 with 6:22 left in the first quarter. The touchdown was Chancellor’s first touchdown this season.  

On the next ULM series, ULM changed quarterbacks. He bobbled the first snap of the series. It was followed by Brandon McCoy stopping him to bring up third down. Ryan Downing stopped the receiver short of the first down to force a punt. Lairamie Lee put pressure on the ULM punter and as a result the ball went out at the fifty yard line for a 23 yard punt.

ULM held North Texas forcing North Texas to punt. Atterberry’s punt went into the endzone to give the Warhawks the ball at the twenty yard line. ULM then brought back their starting quarterback and he guided the Warhawks to a 14-7 lead.

Brandin Byrd took the kickoff to the 32 yard line but ULM forced North Texas to punt. Atterberry hit a 62 yard punt to put the ball at the 11 yard line. North Texas held to get the ball back.

Chancellor received the punt and moved it five yards to the 29 yard line. Dunbar carried the ball twice and with the aid of a penalty North Texas got the first down. Dunbar’s 23 yard catch and run moved the ball to the ULM 36 yard line. On third down, Dunbar was handed the ball where he found some running room between the tackles to carry the ball to the 25 yard line.  Using Dunbar, North Texas moved the ball down to the nine yard line. That is when Thompson hit Christopher Bynes in the right corner of the endzone for a touchdown and after the extra point the game was tied at 14-14 with 8:23 left in half.

ULM carried the kick-off out to the 35 yard line then moved it to the UNT 49 yard line before the defense forced a punt. UNT was unable to move the ball and kicked it back to ULM. The punt was fielded by ULM at the North Texas 45 yard line but a stick of the returner by Lee resulted in a three yard loss to give ULM the ball at the 48 yard line. With ULM at the North Texas 40 yard line they went for it on 4rd and two. Orr was not going to have anything to do with ULM getting a first down so he stopped them short of the first down to get the ball back to North Texas.

On the next series, Bynes catch moved the ball to the ULM 49 yard line. Dunbar’s catch and run moved the ball to the 37 yard line. The result was he became only the 25^th player in NCAA history to run for 3000 yards and receive for 1000 yards. Chancellor had a 22 yard gain to get the ball to the ten yard line. North Texas was then forced to attempt a 27 yard field goal which was wide left. ULM took a knee to end the first half.

The second half opened with a pooch kick to Brad Graham at the 36 yard line. ULM forced North Texas into a fourth and inches at the North Texas 46 yard line. Atterbery punted the ball inside the 20 to the 18 yard line.

ULM opened their series up with 12 yard pass play.  It was when the North Texas defense stepped up again. Steven Ford stopped the receiver for a two yard gain on the first down. Orr and Michael Stojkovic stopped the ULM runner to bring up a 3rd and 5. A quarterback draw was sniffed out by Brandon Akpunku making it a 4rd and 1. ULM punted the ball however, Richard Abbe ran into the kicker giving the ball back to ULM at the North Texas 46 yard line. ULM then moved the ball down to the 17 yard line where the North Texas defense rose up to force a field goal attempt.  Tevinn Cantly blocked the field goal attempt to keep the score tied at 14-14.

North Texas was able to move the ball to the ULM 38 yard line when Ivan Delgado caught a 34 yard catch between two defenders. North Texas then moved down to the 20 yard line after WillieTaylor caught the ball with a defender all over him. North Texas managed to get the ball to the five yard line where Thompson hit Bynes for a touchdown making it a 21-14 game with 5:53 left in third.

The kickoff went through the endzone giving ULM the ball at their 20 yard line. They moved the ball down the field to tie the game at 21-21.

Byrd fielded the ensuing kick-off at the 31 yard line. Chancellor got a 13 yard catch and he did everything he could to get away but the defender hung on for dear life. He followed that catch up with a 30 yard over the shoulder catch to take the ball down to the ULM 23 yard line. North Texas was unable to get a first down and after an ULM sack of Thompson at the 29 yard line, North Texas tried a 46 yard field goal attempt. Olen put the ball between the uprights giving North Texas a 24-21 lead with 1:29 left in third.

ULM took the kick-off out of the endzone and was greeted by Greg Brown and the coverage team at 18 yard line. North Texas and ULM traded punts several times before North Texas started to make its move.

On the next ULM series, Ryan Boutwell had a nice quarterback sack at the 12 yard line. However, the ULM quarterback rebounded on the next play and ran the ball to the 33 yard line.  K.C. Obi put pressure on the quarterback forcing a throw out of bounds. Akpunku followed up with a sack of his own and at the same time stripped the ball. The loose ball was picked up by Julian Herron and ran it back for a 12 yard touchdown. After the extra point, North Texas was up 31-21 with 5:13 left in the game.

Olen squib kicked the ball to the ULM 28 yard line.   The quarterback was flushed out of the pocket and was forced to turn back by Abbe right into the waiting arms of Herron and McCoy.

Wells came in at quarterback and Graham got the interception at North Texas 37 yard line with 3:48 left in the game.

In trying to run the clock out, the ball was handed to Dunbar who ran through a hole up the middle for a sixty yard touchdown making the final score 38-21. It was the twentieth time he ran for 100 yards in a game and he tied Patrick Cobb for the most touchdowns in North Texas history.

This was the third straight home win for North Texas which is the first time that has happened in seven years.  They improve to 3-5, 2-2 while ULM falls to 2-5, 1-2 and out of the conference race.  

North Texas travels to Jonesboro to take on Sun Belt Conference member Arkansas State.